Archive for March, 2011

With substantial first quarter insured losses from catastrophes in Australia, Japan and New Zealand and the political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, the direction of global reinsurance rates at April 1, 2011 renewals varies by region and line of business. Guy Carpenter & Company released its annual report on the state of the reinsurance market at the April 1 renewals period. As the quarter comes to a close, it is the most costly first quarter on record for the industry. Key findings include:

The formation of Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation (MiCRO), an innovative donor-capitalized insurance facility developed by a syndicate of strategic stakeholders, will empower Haiti’s micro-entrepreneurs to protect themselves against the economic aftermath of severe natural catastrophes. The facility’s scalable model for microinsurance is the first of its kind in Haiti and is aimed at the country’s ‘informal sector’ - the organized poor who have taken steps to increase their economic standing and stability through the creation of small businesses.

A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan at 05:46:23 UTC (14:46:23 local time) on March 11, causing severe shaking near the epicenter region and triggering a massive tsunami that devastated coastal communities. Estimates issued by AIR Worldwide and EQECAT suggest insured losses could be between USD12 billion and USD30 billion. There are fears the death toll could now exceed 25,000 people, according to reports. Widespread property damage has been reported across northern Japan despite the country boasting the strictest building standards in the world. Officials say the situation at the quake-damaged nuclear facility in Fukushima has improved over recent days, but remains serious. According to both the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA), the earthquake’s magnitude was measured at 9.0, making it the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since 1900 and the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago. The USGS added that the earthquake was located 130 kilometers (80 miles) east of Sendai and 373 kilometers (230 miles) northeast of Tokyo, at a depth of 32 kilometers (19.9 miles). More than 500 aftershocks have hit the region since the main earthquake, the most powerful at 7.1Mw. Reports said the earthquake was nearly 8,000 times stronger than February’s event in New Zealand that devastated the city of Christchurch.

Update: 9.0Mw Earthquake Strikes off Northeastern Japan: A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan on March 11, causing severe shaking near the epicenter region and triggering a massive tsunami that devastated coastal communities. There are fears the death toll could exceed 10,000 people, according to reports. Widespread property damage has been reported across northern Japan despite the country boasting the strictest building standards in the world and damage at a nuclear facility in Fukushima has prompted fears of serious radioactive leaks. Early estimates issued by AIR Worldwide and EQECAT suggest insured losses could be between USD12 billion and USD35 billion. Both the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) have recently upwardly revised their measurements of the earthquake’s magnitude to 9.0, making it the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since 1900 and the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago.

Chart Room: Solvency II Timeline: While the official implementation date for the Solvency II regime isn’t until January 2013, the process for defining and adopting these sweeping regulations is already well underway.

Creating Value by Integrating Risk Management with Capital Management and Overall Business Strategy: Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) enables an organization to integrate its risk management strategy with its capital and business strategies, ultimately improving the linkage between operational and financial decision making. ERM consists of four elements: identifying and managing critical risks; quantifying the impact of these risks on capital adequacy and earnings, setting risk appetite and tolerance, and embedding risk management into the strategic decision-making process. Several studies have shown that firms with stable results consistently create more value for stakeholders than those with volatile results.

We present here the top stories on microinsurance that have appeared on GC Capital Ideas, recently.

Reactions Magazine Recognizes Two Guy Carpenter Specialists as Industry “Rising Stars”: Reactions magazine has selected two Guy Carpenter & Company specialists as part of its sixth annual “Rising Stars” feature. Published in the February issue, the prestigious list honors the “names to watch in insurance, reinsurance and broking,” those recognized as having the potential to serve as “the next generation of leaders in the insurance industry.” (Alex Bernhardt, Head of GC Micro Risk Solutions (SM))

Guy Carpenter Asia Pacific Catastrophe Report; Executive Summary: The Asia Pacific region has significant exposure to a wide variety of catastrophe perils: within the region lie some of the world’s most active earthquake areas, the northwest Pacific typhoon zone and numerous other localized threats of windstorm, flood, hail, snow, freeze and fire. In fact such catastrophe exposures could be said to be the “greatest” of any region of the world. These exposures generate a clear need for insurance for commercial ventures and for individuals with economic well-being and reinsurance for the insurance company aggregators of this exposure.

Microinsurance: A Market with Untapped Potential:In 2008 Guy Carpenter was awarded an Innovation Grant by the Microinsurance Innovation Facility to develop risk transfer capacity for microinsurance risks throughout the developing world. Since then, Guy Carpenter has worked tirelessly with microfinance institutions (MFIs), insurers and reinsurers worldwide to narrow the gap between microreinsurance market supply and demand.

GC Videocast - Rendez-Vous Press Briefing, International Growth (Henry Keeling):Henry Keeling, President and CEO, International Operations, Guy Carpenter & Company, describes the restructured European organization of Guy Carpenter. New teams, new individuals and strengthened and enhanced operations have been set up in many territories in Europe. New leaders are focusing on European operations and many global Guy Carpenter executives are now based in Europe. The new structure provides a platform for integrating the analytical and broking sides of our business.

Guy Carpenter & Company a Media Partner at MicroInsurance Summit 2010, London: Microinsurance, an emerging category of microfinance, works in a manner similar to traditional commercial insurance - except products are designed for and distributed to low-income populations, predominantly in emerging economies that have had historically low insurance penetration. Because this corner of the market is relatively new, many insurers find it difficult to write “micro” policies with little access to loss history, exposure data, and other essential underwriting information. Without access to reinsurance, the situation becomes even more challenging.